1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printer having an information leakage prevention means for preventing the leakage of recorded images remaining on a used ribbon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Used ribbons in dye-sublimation thermal transfer printers have recorded images remaining thereon, which poses a risk of information leakage from these remaining images. With printers for business use, in particular, ribbons that have been used by users are left inside the printers in stores. These used ribbons are simply mounted in the printers, so that the administrators of the printers have easy access to the used ribbons. If the used ribbons are thrown directly into trash bins, the recorded information may leak to ordinary people. It is therefore required that that used ribbons be provided with some means for preventing information leakage therefrom when they are removed from the printers.
In view of this, JP-A-3-190782 (Patent Document 1) and JP-A-2005-297418 (Patent Document 2), for example, propose thermal transfer printers with a mechanism for folding a used ribbon into a position such that the ink layers oppose each other, causing the opposing ink layers of the folded ribbon to be fused and fixed, and then winding the ribbon.
In order to form a bend line in used ribbons, the thermal transfer printer disclosed in Patent Document 1 uses a pressure roller, and the method disclosed in Patent Document 2 uses an angled guide member. In either case, however, great tension is applied to the bent portion of the used ribbon, thus making the ribbon easily breakable, and making printer maintenance difficult.